E3 2008: 2K and Gearbox Show Off Borderlands

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It's sort of like Mad Max on an alien world.

By Jason Ocampo

Borderlands is the upcoming first-person shooter and driving game that could best be described as Mad Max on an alien planet. In this case, the planet is called Pandora, an apocalyptic wasteland where heavily-armed scavengers race around in futuristic buggies. This is designed to be a co-op game, so it's best played with at least one friend; one can serve as the driver, and the other the gunner.

The game was revealed about 11 months ago at the Games Convention in Leipzig, so this was Borderland's first E3. As such, Gearbox stuck to the basics for the journalists and financial analysts who hadn't seen the game before. The demo featured some co-op gameplay, with a driving battle sequence before transitioning to an on-foot battle in a deserted mining complex. This showed off the large, seamless world (we didn't see a single load screen) as well as the graphical polish on the terrain, which looked every bit a parched landscape.

Driving and shooting. What more do you need?

Last year Gearbox touted that Borderlands had more than 500,000 different guns, each with a unique look and unique capabilities. Now that number is over 650,000 guns, which just sounds crazy. After all, how many guns will you need? To sort through them all the game color codes them; weaker or equivalent guns to the one you're carrying are highlighted in yellow, while those in green indicate that they're more powerful or more effective. You'll want the purple highlighted guns which means they're really special.

This is a mix of first-person action and role-playing. You pick a character class and then you proceed to level up over the course of the game, just like in an RPG. There's even an experience point bar at the bottom of the screen that indicates progress to the next level up. When you advance in level, you can access a special terminal to modify your character abilities. Outside of that, you can get proficiencies in weapons by using them to kill difficult opponents.

That's gonna burn.

Co-op seems to be the hot new thing in games, so it's good to hear that you can just drop into one of your buddy's games while he's playing and vice versa. There's still a lot more to learn about Borderlands, such as the background of the world and what the ultimate goal is, but those answers will come in the coming months. The game is scheduled to ship next year.